Issue Description

In the room of the fear machine, the director of Geotroniks comes upon Mr. Webster, who has murdered the phobics and paranoiacs from whom they had extracted the fear to power the machine. They are sacrifices in Webster's mad plan to bring about the arrival of the dragon Jallakuntilliokan. The director announces futilely that the grand lodge of Freemasons has ordered that their operations be shut down, but it is too late. Webster's ritual has already begun.

Meanwhile, John Constantine has strong-armed Chas Chandler once again into driving him to Scotland to meet with Marj and the Pagan Nation. However, it is apparent that something supernatural is happening - something bad. The sky is raining down blood, and John is convinced that the end of days is on its way.

Earlier, John has been researching the Freemasons when he was suddenly overcome by a feeling of sickness. He had wanted to just run to Scotland to be with friends and lovers, but he had promised to find Mercury, and he would. He called the home office extension that he was given by Davis, and was informed that the man to speak to was the Parliamentary Under-Secretary. As it happened, John knew Bartholomew Carter-Brown, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary, having once hypnotized him into describing his involvement in a sexual voodoo ritual with a Haitian envoy's daughter who had consequently turned into a crocodile.

John caught up with "Binky" Carter-Brown in the street, demanding to know everything about his involvement with Geotroniks and the Freemasons. Though Carter-Brown denied it, John pointed out that the Under-Secretary wore one of the Freemasonry rings, and the man gave in. With some prodding, Binky explains that the "G.O.A.G." that John had seen on a flyer stands for the God of All Gods, whose secret name is Jallakuntilliokan. The ley lines were being used as the delivery system for some kind of psychic weaponry meant to cause unrest and force change. The system required the kidnap of a young girl - Mercury - who was later allowed to escape. Meanwhile, the whole setup was dismantled, and Geotroniks shut down. John and Carter-Brown parted ways, as the latter wandered onto the grounds of Buckingham Palace, making just how high up the conspiracy goes apparent.

Mercury stops at a restaurant on her own way to Scotland, but her appetite is ruined because she can't separate herself from the mind-world in which the creature of fear resides. She is surprised to hear John Constantine's familiar voice at the counter, and she runs over to him, hugging him tightly. John is just as happy to see her, glad to know that he has not lost her forever. To Chas' chagrin, John promises to take Merc back to Scotland to her mother Marj.

In the room of the fear machine, Harold, Ken, Simon Hughes, Det. Geoff Talbot, and the Russian spy Sergei Antonov all wake in a cage. They are all horrified by the scene before them. A hangman's rope swings on the other side of the bars, and the severed heads of Webster's victims taunt them. Talbot deduces that given the presence of other cages, more prisoners must be expected. The cages are wooden, so their captors must not plan on keeping them for long.

They soon discover that one of the nearby cages holds another victim. It is the Geotroniks director, and Simon recognizes him as one of the men who had attacked him earlier. The director claims to have only been following orders from the grand lodge. However, when the lodge had called off the experiments with the fear machine, Webster refused to obey. He beat the director and threw him in the cage. Suddenly, Webster appears, confirming their suspicions that they will all die there. He plans to kill each of them at regular intervals, sacrificing them to the draconian Jallakuntilliokan. The first sacrifice will be the director.

John finds the Pagan Nation settlement to be not altogether what he expected. They were all happy to see he and Mercury, but Zed didn't even recognize him, and something strange had happened. A big storm had hit the settlement, and some kind of dark magic had killed several of the male members of the group, hanging their bodies from trees, the branches piercing through their limbs. John determines that this is serious magic, the kind that can change things permanently. He decides that he will find a way to overcome that magic by joining with it.

John heads to the stone circle at one of the ley line intersections, and begins meditating. He is drawn into the magic, where he can see Simon Hughes being murdered and brutalized by Webster. With Simon's sacrifice, John can sense the creature in the centre of the fear machine growing stronger. This creature is Humbaba, father of the dragon, whose mother is the earth. The creature entices John to join it, but Mercury enters the mind-world and urges him to return to his body before he is absorbed.

Though John is returned safely, Mercury is all that is left to hold Humbaba in the circle, and prevent the coming of Jallakuntilliokan.

-Source

Hellblazer (1988)

Publisher

Vertigo

Volume Description

House Ad (art by Dave McKean)

Spinning out of the pages of Swamp Thing, popular supporting character John Constantine (created by Alan Moore) was given his own ongoing series first written by British writer Jamie Delano, who was handpicked by Moore and impressed editors with his long term plans for the character. The title was originally to be named "Hellraiser" but was changed to Hellblazer to avoid conflicting with Clive Barker's Hellraiser film released the previous year.

Delano set the tone for the series, which featured heavy social commentary of 80's England and grounded the magical and occult themes within the gritty streets of London. He also fleshed out John's origins first hinted at by Moore in Swamp Thing, which would be continued by later writers.

Many popular writers, most of them British, have had tenures on the title such as Garth Ennis, Warren Ellis, Peter Milligan and Paul Jenkins to name a few. Famous writers Neil Gaiman and Grant Morrison were also guest writers early on. The series' cover art was also acclaimed, many popular artists such as Dave McKean, Glenn Fabry, Tim Bradstreet, Lee Bermejo and Simon Bisley all provided memorable cover art work.

Despite its DC Universe origins, the series largely ignored the wider DC and Vertigo Universes but for a few occasions and guest-appearances. The series itself aged in real time, as did John, who would age to his sixties by the time the series had ended.

Perhaps best known as being Vertigo's longest-running comic book series because of the fact that it began before Vertigo was a publisher, five years before in fact and that it was also the Vertigo launch title which stayed in print the longest.

Unlike most Vertigo volumes, due to its extreme length, this one has had various writers (many of whom are better known for other Vertigo contributions), and oftentimes the series is judged within these writer's runs rather then as a whole since the series has changed through the decades.

On November 8th 2012 it was announced that Hellblazer will end at issue #300. John Constantine however will star in a new New 52 ongoing of his own called Constantine in March 2013. Before the cancellation, Hellblazer was the longest ongoing continuing monthly series without renumbering or cancellations/rebirths from either of "the Big Two" due to DC's New 52 and Marvel's reboot of Uncanny X-Men.

Hellblazer Annuals, Specials and Spin-Offs

Hellblazer Annual #1 (1989)The Horrorist #1-2Hellblazer Special #1Hellblazer Annual #1 (2012)Hellblazer: All His EnginesHellblazer: PandemoniumDark EntriesVertigo Secret Files: HellblazerHellblazer: Bad Blood #1-4Hellblazer/The Books of Magic #1-2Hellblazer: City of Demons #1-5Hellblazer Special: Lady Constantine #1-4.Hellblazer Special: Papa Midnite #1-5Hellblazer Special: Chas (The Knowledge) #1-5Collected Editions

New Editions

In 2011 DC/Vertigo began releasing new edition trades. These new volumes were larger, numbered numerically and contained every issue in chronological order which the previous editions skipped or had collected separately. Many of the new editions contain different issues from the originals.

Vol. 1: Original Sins (#1-9, Swamp Thing #76-77)Vol. 2: The Devil You Know (#10-13, Hellblazer: Annual and Horrorist #1-2)Vol. 3: The Fear Machine (#14-22)Vol. 4: The Family Man (#23-33)Vol. 5: Dangerous Habits (#34-46)Vol. 6: Bloodlines (#47-61)Vol. 7: Tainted Love (#62–71, Hellblazer: Special and a story from Vertigo Jam)Vol. 8: Rake at the Gates of Hell (#72-83, Heartland and pin-ups from Hellblazer Special)Vol. 9: Critical Mass (#84-96)Vol. 10: In the Line of Fire (#97-107)Vol. 11: Last Man Standing (#108-120)Vol. 12: How To Play With Fire (#121-133)

Original Editions

Hellblazer: Original Sins (#1-9)Hellblazer: The Devil You Know (#10-13, Hellblazer: Annual, Horrorist #1-2)Hellblazer: The Fear Machine (#14-22)Hellblazer: The Family Man (##23-24, #28-33)Hellblazer: Dangerous Habits (#41-46)Hellblazer: Bloodlines (#47-50, #52-55 and #59-61)Hellblazer: Fear and Loathing (#62-67)Hellblazer: Tainted Love (#68–71, Hellblazer: Special and a story from Vertigo Jam)Hellblazer: Damnation's Flame (#72-77)Hellblazer: Rake at the Gates of Hell (#78-83, Heartland)Hellblazer: Son of Man (#129-133)Hellblazer: Haunted (#134-139)Hellblazer: Setting Sun (#140-143)Hellblazer: Shoot (#144, 145, 245, 246 & 250)Hellblazer: Hard Time (#146-150)Hellblazer: Good Intentions (#151-156)Hellblazer: Freezes Over... (#157-163)Hellblazer: Highwater (#164-174)Hellblazer: Red Sepulchre (#175-180)Hellblazer: Black Flowers (#181-186)Hellblazer: Staring at the Wall (#187-193)Hellblazer: Stations of the Cross (#194-200)Hellblazer: Reasons to be Cheerful (#201-206)Hellblazer: The Gift (#207-215)Hellblazer: Empathy is the Enemy (#216-222)Hellblazer: The Red Right Hand (#223-228)Hellblazer: Joyride (#230-237)Hellblazer: The Laughing Magician (#238-242)Hellblazer: Roots of Coincidence (#243-244, #247-249)Hellblazer: Scab (#251-255 and a short story from 250)Hellblazer: Hooked (#256-260)Hellblazer: India (#261-266)Hellblazer: Bloody Carnations (#267-275)Hellblazer: Phantom Pains (#276-282)Hellblazer: The Devil's Trench Coat (#283-291)Hellblazer: Death and Cigarettes (#292-300 and Hellblazer Annual #1)

Other Collected Editions

Hellblazer: Rare Cuts (#11, #25–26, #35, #56, #84)Constantine: The Hellblazer Collection (Constantine: The Official Movie Adaptation, Hellblazer #1, #27 and #410.Vertigo Resurrected: Shoot (Contains the original #141, the censored story: "Shoot")Vertigo Resurrected: Hellblazer (#57-58, #245-246)Other Related MaterialHouse of Mystery Halloween Annual short stories set in the DCU/Vertigo universe.The Trenchcoat BrigadeThe Books of MagicVertigo EncyclopaediaVertigo Secret Files: Swamp ThingWinter's Edge #1-3. The Three Winter's Edge stories would be collected in Vertigo Resurrected: Winter's Edge.9-11 Vol.2

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